For Patients and Families

At Boston Children's Hospital our top priority is providing world-class care for all children, whether they live down the street or thousands of miles away. For us, world-class care doesn't just mean a successful surgery or cancer remission. It also means providing sensitive and comprehensive support to your child and family at every stage of treatment, from the first consultation to long-term follow-up.

Our physicians, nurses, and support staff bring to everything they do a compassionate awareness of the stresses faced by families with ill or injured children. We fully involve parents and siblings in a patient's care, and strive to anticipate and respond to the unique needs -- both logistical and emotional -- of families from all backgrounds and cultures.

The following resources will help your family make arrangements for care and prepare for your visit to the hospital.

International Health Services

Each year we provide treatment and support services to more than 2,000 international patients and their families. The experts in our International Center specialize in coordinating complex care across languages, cultures, and geography. Some of the services and facilities we provide include:

Your First Visit: What to Expect

We do everything we can to make your family's experience as smooth and stress-free as possible. Before you arrive at the hospital, we'll help you with the details and walk you through everything you need to know:

Patient Success Stories

A mother researches the world's best pediatric neurosurgeons. An uncle turns to YouTube to learn more about brain tumors. Physicians on opposite sides of the globe communicate and collaborate. And a family boards a plane to Boston, anticipating a marathon neurosurgery for their child and hoping for the best.

A boy is born in Greece with bladder exstrophy, a rare urological condition that affects roughly 1 in every 40,000 babies. Deeply concerned, his parents consult experts in their home country and opt to seek care at Boston Children's Hospital, which handles up to six such cases each year in its specialized bladder exstrophy program.

An extremely rare vascular malformation leaves a 13-year-old girl from Kuwait in extreme pain. Thanks to surgery at Boston Children's Hospital -- and her courageous dedication to physical therapy -- Minwa Alhamad is now enjoying life and exploring her talents as an artist.

Twin girls in Colombia with a rare genetic syndrome travel to Boston with their parents for a bone marrow transplant -- and the opportunity to participate in a clinical trial for an experimental process that seeks to make transplants safer and more effective.

When a small boy from the West Bank is diagnosed with a congenital condition that compromises the kidneys and urological system, a team of Israeli doctors and U.S. benefactors join together to secure him a kidney transplant.

When Regina was born in Mexico with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, the Torreblancas traveled to Boston to give their daughter a chance at life. Three surgeries and nineteen months later, Regina was back in Cancun – healthy and happy!